Charlotte opened her mouth as she yawned in a deep breath of air. Looking out the window, the gentle sun caressed her smooth skin. The apartment was located on the top floor of the skyscraper so the view through the window was quite the sight. While scanning the many people and cars moving to and fro, greeting each other with smiles and laughter, Charlotte was reminded of her own miserable situation. "Sigh, how the hell am I going to pay the rent?"
Hopping out of bed, Charlotte changed into the only other set of clothes she had, a black leather, double-breasted trench coat with a black waist tie that she bought for 230 daowar[1]. The door to the living room croaked as Charlotte opened the door and called out, "Good morning, Larry."
"Good... morning... Charlotte" replied the blanket-wrapped lump on the sofa, lying like a thin little dumpling.
A pleasant aroma filled the room as Charlotte poured herself a cup of coffee, "Larry, why don't you ever try?" Charlotte had asked Larry this question many times already, but she had never gotten used to Larry's answer.
"Charlotte, why do you ask questions you already know?" was the gruff reply.
"It's because I never understand your answer. Yes, although we most likely will always be this poor, living in an apartment we can barely afford, why is that a reason to not try? You know that we need to at least try to get a job to pay off rent and stay in this apartment, right?"
A brief silence falls upon the room as Charlotte waited expectantly for an answer. The scrawny lump on the sofa finally moves, "Sigh, you know what, Charlotte?"
Charlotte's ears prick up as she tilts her head, this was the first time Larry had ever spoken to her in such an honest tone, like he actually wanted to talk to her.
"Charlotte, I could give you two answers to your question. Answer one is what I've always been telling you, a half-truth. Answer two is when I tell you everything I know. I've never told you answer two, but I guess there is no harm in telling you the truth for once" Larry pauses for a moment before Charlotte butts in.
"Really? You'll finally tell me the real answer?"
"Well yeah, but the only problem is that I don't know the answer."
"..."
"..."
"How the hell does that make any sense? You don't know why you're lazy?"
"Well here is the thing, everyone has their own philosophy. And in every person there is something that influenced that philosophy the most, and that is their life. For example, a woman who has been raped before is more likely to have a philosophy degrading men than a woman who has never been raped before. It's the same for everyone, your life experiences influence the way to see the world around you. As for me, my philosophy has made me lazy. The only thing I don't really know is, did my life experiences cause me to become lazy, or was I just born lazy?"
Charlotte blinked as she tried to digest everything Larry just told her. "Well," said Charlotte, "which one do you think is the most likely case?"
A brief silence fills the room before Larry continues, "Hmm, if I'm being honest, it was probably my life experiences." the blanket-wrapped lump suddenly sits up, and takes a deep breath.
"When I was a kid, my mom spoiled me. Whatever I asked, she would do it for me, every action I did was rewarded with praise, she was like a servant serving her master." Larry's lips curved into a nostalgic smile, "But then, one day, that glory ended. My younger brother was born."
Larry sighed as he clasped his hands together.
"With his birth, mother couldn't continue to give me every ounce of attention that she used to, she couldn't continue to shower me with lies of praise whenever I did something terrible. And so I realized that I was bad at doing a lot of stuff, the activities I used to do were no longer enjoyable. I realized that to be good at something, you need to try and work hard. You can't just stay at home and rest. And so, I tried, I tried to go outside, and work hard, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I couldn't force myself to go out and do something I didn't enjoy. And so my parents started criticizing me."
Larry let out a deep breath before his melodious laughter filled the room, "I became the Failure of The Family, the Lazy Larry. And that is when, I guess, I just gave up hope, hope of achieving anything meaningful. The only thing I wanted was to rest and be happy."
As Larry paused in the pleasant silence, he looked up towards the ceiling, as if he was deep in thought. "So... I guess that's the reason why I'm so lazy." then, suddenly, after a short pause, a smile appeared on Larry's face as he laughed, "Or, I was just born lazy. That's always a possibility."
The blank stare on Charlotte's face was evident as she looked towards Larry like he was some drunk idiot she just met on the street, speaking gibberish. "I see, your parents criticized you, and you couldn't take it. You're a lot weaker than I thought."
"I might have been weak then, but not now. Now, My philosophy is a stone that will never crack, a mountain that will never wither, a tree that won't fall." declared Larry triumphantly.
"Your poetry is making me cringe so much that I would throw up, but I can't because my stomach is empty due to the fact that we can't feed ourselves."
A long pause resonates throughout the room.
"Well, what about you, Charlotte?"
"Huh?"
"Yes, what about you? What's your story? What happened in your life that would make you such a try hard? Does it matter to you so much?"
"Huh, it's kind of funny. My story is actually kind of similar to yours."
"Really?" replied Larry in disbelief.
"Yup." was the soft short reply.
[1] A "Daowar" is the form of currency that this country uses.